Gundam Doom
by FenrisUlf
Summary: Far in time and space, mankind fights over conflicting ideologies. Once again, the Gundam is the tip of the spear.


**Gundam Doom**

**By Fenris Ulf**

Disclaimer: This is not based off of any of the Gundam series, but is based around the concept of the Gundam. The names of the characters are mine, but the names of the Mechs are not.

In the far reaches of time and space: Mankind has colonized the solar system. Into the reaches of space, he has taken his children, his tools and his weapons. Time and time again, wars have been fought. Countries have been formed, empires raised and alliances crushed.

This is one of those times.

The soldier moved cautiously foward. He was a lowly warrior in the glorious army of the Cathedral. If he was to be honest, perhaps not too lowly as he was the pilot of a Mobile Suit. The Mobile Suit was the staple of the Cathedral forces. In particular, the old Mobile Suit design known as a Zakou, which was what he was piloting now. That it was old meant that its systems and design could be cheaply and reliably produced. A few upgrades had been made where possible, but it was decided that the design as a whole was to be left as is. The Cathedral opting for quantity over quality.

The soldier had no doubts about his machine. It was old, but it was kept in good shape.

He took a readout. He knew that the sensor array in the head of the giant robot looked like a single eye as it scanned the surrounding area. "Sir," he said over the communicator, "there's no sign of Frankish movements here."

"Keep alert, soldier. We don't get an alert from Central Cathedral Intelligence for nothing. Even if you and Carter don't get a single… Where is Carter?"

"He wasn't feeling too well, so he disembarked for a few moments while I went on ahead."

"Do you mean he left his Zakou?"

"Yes, sir."

"Go find out where he is right now."

Carter sat down and sighed. He heard the distinctive noise of a Mobile Suit stomping around. He stood up and looked. His knees almost gave away as he saw the machine. It was a bit taller and thinner in profile than his own Zakou. The entire surface was a dark blue with a white trim. It moved in on his motionless Zakou.

The military protocol was to protect your Mobile Suit at all times. Carter knew that if he tried to get into his Zakou, he'd be fried before he could get it powered up.

The strange Mobile Suit proved his point by leaning over his Zakou and then crushing the exposed cockpit with one hand. It then swiviled its head around. It then moved away.

It seemed only a few scant minutes before he heard the sound of another Mobile Suit. He started for a moment before he saw the single eye of another Zakou.

He dashed out from cover and waved.

"Private Johan Carter, please give your report."

"Yes, sir. About halfway into my assigned patrol, I was not feeling well. Private Chan agreed to go on ahead while I rested for a moment. I exited my Mobile Suit and rested. While I was doing that, I heard another Mobile Suit approaching. I thought it was Private Chan, but it was a Mobile Suit I had never seen before. Before I could react, it had crushed the cockpit of my Mobile Suit then left the area. Shortly afterward, Private Chan arrived."

"All the data we collected has confirmed your report, Private. This is the judgement of the Tribunal. In abandoning your Mobile Suit and not trying to save it you were derelict and should be punished. On the other hand, the damage to your Zakou is slight and you have accomplished your mission, the discovery of an enemy Mobile Suit operating in our space. For this, the charge against you is reduced to this: While your Mobile Suit is undergoing repairs, you will be reduced in rank and pay to Basic. Your regular duties are suspended during this time. You will be restored to your previous rank and duties once your Zakou is fully operational.

"Private Chan, in allowing you to be derelict in your duties, is also to be punished. However, his presence in the area likely prevented your Mobile Suit from being completely destroyed. As such, he will be reassigned.

"Do you wish to contest these charges and sentence?"

"No, sir," he said.

"Man," he moaned as he watched Chan pack his things. "This really bites."

"Relax, Carter. It could have been worse. Your Zakou will be repaired in no time."

"But where am I going to get a partner that I can stand? Likely they'll assign someone that snores at night then loves getting up at some Godawful hour of the morning."

"Relax. Well, I guess this is goodbye. Don't get into any more trouble."

"See you, Chan." The two shook hands and Chan left.

"Carter," he then heard. He looked up to see Sargent Running-Bear. "Until we figure out what to do with you, you have a pass for the weekend. Don't go too wild."

"Yes, sir!"

The problem was that all of his friends on the Mobile Suit squad was on alert now that he had seen an enemy Mobile Suit. So he was the only one on leave.

"Man, this bites," he moaned into his drink. He left the bar and was thinking about just going back to his bunk when he saw her.

She was a blond girl, pretty enough. She was rather tall, but thin. She was walking the streets, deftly weaving in and out of the foot traffic. When she stopped, he realized that he had been following her for quite a ways. She then ducked into a building.

Logically, he should just walk away. Just as logically, he should also have not have followed her. He shrugged, then walked into the building.

She was right in front of him. "Why are you following me?" she asked him.

"Uh," was all he could manage.

"Are you one of those weirdos?"

"Um, do, you want to go out?" he asked in a rush.

"Say what?"

"Do, you want to go out with me? Tonight?"

"Uh. Sure."

"Great," he said, feeling less and less like an idiot. "Let's meet here at seven."

"Okay."

"Bye now."

She watching him leave, feeling slightly bewildered.

"Why did you do that?" the man next to her asked.

"It's been a really long time since I went out on a date," she said to him. She looked down at her hand and flexed it. "A really long time."

"And what do you call this?"

"A business meeting. Or lunch. In any case, you're old enough to be my father."

"In any case, thanks for coming down here. My credit is marginally higher than it used to be."

"There's no problem. Anywhere we can help out. Do you need anything else?"

"I'm being pressured into getting security access codes, communication frequences and so forth."

"Most of the codes I have are outdated and already cracked. I can give them to you, if you wish."

"No. They're already suspicious. Just give me your communication frequency."

"Once they have it, you know what they'll do. Will that hurt your credit?"

"No. If you deal with the problem, my credit will go up another notch since I've said that the forces here are inadequate to deal with you."

"I can't believe I have a date. I can't believe she said yes." He paused for a moment. "Ah! I didn't get her name. She doesn't have my name."

"Who doesn't have your name?"

"Ah!" he yelled out. He spun around to see Corporal Dodge smiling at him. "Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"You didn't answer my question. Who's this lady?"

"Well, I just met her. We have a date."

"And you don't know her name."

"Right."

Corporal Dodge shook his head. "In any case, I'm your new bunkmate."

"You, really?"

"Yeah."

"All right. This hasn't been such a bad day after all. I didn't get shot by a firing squad. I met a pretty girl, and my new bunkmate is a decent guy."

"Thanks, I think."

He walked out to the building a bit early. He then saw the girl again. She was dressed in the same outfit, a dark blue jumpsuit with white trim. She wore no jewelry or makeup. "Hello," he said to her.

"Hello yourself," she said.

"I think I forgot to tell you that I'm Private, well, Basic Soldier Johan Carter."

"Pleased to meet you," she said. "I'm Cynthia Brooks."

"Whew. I was afraid that I had mortally offended you when I didn't ask for your name."

"No. It's been a really long time since anyone asked me out."

"Really? A pretty girl like you?"

"Really. And why did you change your rank on me?"

"That's a long story."

"Why don't you tell it to me? Did you make any plans?"

"Well, I managed to get us some seats at a restaurant. Shall we go?"

"Sure."

"These are the mission parameters."

Lieutenant Marx pointed to the map. "This is the area where the communication frequencies picked up by CCI are concentrated in. That's not all that they have found out. According to CCI, the enemy Mobile Suit is a Gundam."

There was a wave of murmuring at this pronouncement. Carter felt a cold sweat run over him. The Kingdom of the Neo-Merovingians, or the Franks, was the only sector of space not dominated by the Cathedral, or the Fourth Empire. It was a tiny sector of space, kept free only due to the superior technology of its spaceships and the ultimate Mobile Suit, the Gundam.

No ordinary Zakou pilot knew what made the Gundams so fearsome. They only heard the stories. The stories of single Gundams cutting down entire squads of Cathedral Mobile Suits. Of thier lethal weaponry and the cold-blooded killers that sat in the pilot seat.

"So, tell me Carter. Why are you the only soldier down here tonight?"

"The enitre base in on high alert," he said to her. "We spotted this Frankish Mobile Suit the other day."

"I heard about that. Did you see it?"

"You bet I did. I wasn't in my Zakou at the time. I stepped out for a moment, then this blue Mobile Suit comes out of nowhere and smashes my cockpit."

"So, that means that you're a Zakou pilot."

"Yeah, I'm on suspension until my Zakou gets fixed."

She looked away for a moment.

"Do you think that I should have tried harder to save my Zakou?" he asked her.

She looked into his eyes. "No, I'm glad that you didn't get hurt. You did the right thing."

"Mr. Carter, are you still with us?"

"Yes, sir!" he said, standing up.

"At ease, soldier. Intelligence wasn't able to get anything solid on what type of Gundam we have here, but they drew up some likely scenarios. This Gundam is likely here for reconaissence. This means that it has stealth capabilities and possible electronic warfare equipment. This means, in turn, that all attempts to locate it with sensors will be futile, and that a grid to grid search is the only chance we have of capturing it. Likely, it will not be a battle unit, but until we engage it, we can't be sure. This means that each of you will go out in single units to search. Once you locate the Gundam, do not engage. Signal in your location and withdraw if you can until reinforcements arrive. Are there any questions? No? Then good luck, men."

Carter moved ahead cautiously. At first, the entire prospect of hunting the Gundam down made him shake in his boots. After an hour or so, nothing had happened. No word from his fellow pilots, no sign for himself. He remembered his fellow pilots as they all bragged how they would bag the Gundam single-handedly.

"I found it, I found it!" he heard over the communication lines. He then saw an explosion to the right of his own location. He turned and ran to the fight.

"I can't…" he heard before the signal dissolved into static. All too soon, he was at the scene. The destroyed hulk of a Zakou was lying at the feet of the blue Mobile Suit. It looked at him, then it leaped away in an impossibly high arc at an impossible speed. Before he could reorient himself, his controls were stuck. He then realized that the Gundam was behind him. It was smaller than his own Zakou, but the strength of it was such that he was held immobile.

Before he could do anything else, his Zakou was falling to the ground.

"And then what happened?" Cindy asked him.

"I laid there until the repair crews could pry me out. It's amazing. I should be dead. That Gundam had me at its mercy. I can see why they have the reputation that they do."

"Carter," she asked him. "Do you know what really sets the Gundams apart from the other Mobile Suits?"

"No," he said. "No Mobile Suit pilot really does. I've never seen one in action until today. It was so strong, and so fast."

"I've heard, that the speed and strength of the Gundam is nothing compared to what really give them thier edge."

"Really? Come on, tell me. I'm dying to know."

"Imagine a system that let's the pilot of the Gundam know what his enemy is going to do before he does it."

"Say what? How can they do that?"

"I couldn't say. But think about it. Before you move in for a shot, or draw your energy saber, the pilot of the Gundam can react and counter what you do before you do it."

"If that's true, then there would be no way to catch him by surprise. I wonder how long a lead they would have?"

"I can't imagine it being very long. Maybe a few seconds."

"Wow. These Gundam pilots must really be incredible to react correctly in those few seconds."

"That's so sweet of you," she said.

"Huh?"

"Come on. You have to show me around."

"Come on, are you serious?"

"That's what she said. It's a little scary once you think about it. Not only are these Gundams faster, stronger, better armed and more mobile than our own Zakous, but the pilots know what thier opponents are going to do before they do it. That gives them quite an edge."

"Where would she hear something like that? I've never heard anything like it."

"Me either. She said that it was a story she heard back home. It makes sense though. That Gundam tore through every Mobile Suit we had then melted away as if it never was. And..." he sat up.

"And what? You can't just let a sentence hang that way."

"And I have the feeling that it could have trashed our entire unit without getting a scratch on it."

"You're kidding, right?"

"Nope."

"Man. If I had just gotten there a little sooner…"

"Your Mobile Suit would have been trashed just like mine was."

"At least yours is still salvagable."

"Yeah."

"How long do you think you can keep this up?" he asked her.

"Not very long. That's why I was chosen. I don't have to do this for very long."

"I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about your boyfriend."

"What about him?"

"How long do you think it'll take him to figure it all out?"

"Relax. How would he ever figure things out?"

The two stopped talking as the man in question stopped a flatbed truck in front of a motor shop that was obviously closed.

"Ah, man!" Carter wailed. "Don't be closed, you can't be closed."

"I'll see you later," she said to the man. She walked over to Carter. "Hey, Carter," she said. "What's going on?"

"Hi, Cindy. I have to get this vehical repaired. This is the only shop where I can get that done."

"Do you mean this truck?" she asked, tapping the cab.

"Uh, no… This one," he said, flipping the tarp on the flatbed.

"Oh, wow. It's one of thos pre-spaceflight cars. I've seen these before. Why do you have it?"

"Well, I've been busted back to Basic for getting my Zakou trashed, so while it's getting fixed, I'm doing all the grunt work for the Motor Pool. The Commander's car broke down and they told me to get it fixed. Oh, man. What am I going to do? This is the only place in town that has the parts."

"You could take it to my shop. I don't have vintage parts, but I'm sure that I could machine a replacement."

"You can? Oh, that would be great."

"Wow. I didn't know you worked in a machine shop."

"It's kind of the only job that I could get. Now then: What's wrong with this car?"

"I don't know. They just said that the guys at the garage would know what was wrong."

"Well, we'll just have to see what we can find."

"Let's get it cranked up," she said. She had paused to change into what she called her working clothes. It seemed to Carter to be the same as her usual outfit. The first thing she did was to try and start the car. After a good deal of testing and tinkering and fiddling, she finally pronounced, "I know what the problem is. It's this carberator."

"The what?"

"Trust me. That's what's wrong with it. We'll just make a replacement part and that should solve the problem."

She sat down to her computer. Carter breifly saw a complicated device on the screen before she cleared it away and began drawing up the neccessary parts.

"Now, we let the auto-fabricator carve out the parts. We finish them, test the car and that will be that."

"Wow, Cindy. You're a lifesaver."

"By the way, who's going to pay me for this little job."

"Uh, pay you?"

"Well, yeah. I mean. If I was just doing a favor for you personally, that might be one thing. But since you're here as a soldier of the Base, that's something else. How were you supposed to pay the other guys?"

"I'm not sure. I was told that it would be taken care of."

"Tell you what then. I'll accept one of two payments."

"All right. What do I have to do?"

"First thing is, I want some Mobile Suit parts."

"What?"

"I'm not asking for weapons or anything. Just any parts, as long as they once came from a Mobile Suit. Burned out chunks of armor, wasted computer parts. Anything."

"I don't think I could do that. They keep security guards on the scrap pile."

"For today only, I'll let you take me out on a date as payment."

"I can do that. I have tomorrow off. Is that okay?"

"That will work. But tell your buddies in the Motor Pool that I'll be wanting those Mobile Suit parts for anything else."

"You took it where?"

"I took it to Cindy's shop."

"Who is Cindy?"

"Oh, Cynthia Brooks. She's my girlfriend."

"Why didn't you take it to the place I told you about?"

"I told you, they were closed. You said I had to get something done right away."

"Can this Cindy be trusted?"

"What do you mean, trusted?"

"I mean, is she the type of person to plant a bomb in the Commander's car?"

"What? Of course, not."

"How much longer do you think you can keep this up?"

"I'll keep this up for as long as I have to."

"And what about your boyfriend?"

"He'll get over me."

"You look down," she said to him.

"Ah, the guys at the Motor Pool were giving me a hard time because I took the car to you instead of to those other guys."

"Was there a problem?"

"At first, I thought it was because you had to get a background check done or something. Then I realized that they were really talking about a person who could be trusted with knowing the Commander had a car like that."

"I was wondering about that. Aren't vehicals like that illegal?"

"As illegal as hell. But who would arrest the Commander of a Base? Even a base as remote as this one."

He sighed and leaned on the railing.

"I'm starting to wonder about the pilot of that Gundam. He was so incredible. What is he doing now? He's spared my life twice."

"What do you mean?"

"He could have killed me. The first time, I thought that he just overlooked me. After he simply disabled my Zakou, I know now that he simply chose not to kill me if he didn't have to. I guess I owe him."

She held him. "If I were you, I wouldn't worry about it. I'm sure that he'd like you to feel you didn't owe him anything."

As they were walking, he saw some of his friends hanging out at a bar that was popular with the Mobile Suit pilots. "Come on. I want to introduce you to my friends. They don't believe that you exist. Either that, or they've been ribbing me that you're really a grandmother with a single good tooth."

"Guys, this is Cindy."

There was a stunned silence as they all stared at her.

"Uh, hello, guys," she said, shyly curling one hand in greeting. In a short amount of time, Carter was introducing her and they were laughing and talking with her at ease.

Finally, there came the point where Corporal Dodge yelled out, "Come on, Carter. Get her on the simulator!"

There was a chorus of cheers.

"The what?" was all she managed to get out while they herded her and Carter to this machine.

"It's a tradition," one of them said. "When someone brings his girl down here, we pit them against each other in a Mobile Suit simulator."

Across the way, Carter watched as she sat down in the seat then looked over the controls. In a few moments, someone activated the machine and his viewscreen lit up. He took a quick look at his profile and noticed that he was assigned a Zakou. He took a quick look across and was startled to see a beam blast come at him. He dodged and quickly oriented himself.

She was moving across the virtual landscape in an old-style Federation Jinn. She moved quickly, firing at him with short bursts from the Vulcan Cannon located in the head. Carter tried to get a bead on her with his own Beam Cannon. It seemed that every time he fired at her, she was able to anticipate and dodge his blasts. She only fired back with the Vulcan Cannon. Sometimes she hit, but the Vulcan Cannon wasn't meant to seriously damage a Mobile Suit.

Then he realized that he was almost out of Beam Cannon shots while she was only running out of her low powered Vulcan.

Then she unexpectedly left herself vulnerable for a moment. Not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth, he fired at her with his last Beam Shot. It nailed her Jinn right in the power plant, ending the game.

"Wow, you are really good at that thing," he said to her as they left the place.

"You won the game," she said to him.

"Even so, you would've had me if you hadn't exposed yourself."

She walked on in silence for a while. "Carter, how did you get to be a Zakou pilot?"

"When I joined the military, they gave out these aptitude tests. When I got mine back out of Boot Camp, it told me that I was going to be a pilot."

"Do you regret being a pilot?"

"No. Sometimes, I wonder what it would be like to do something else, but I have it pretty good."

"Would you die for the Cathedral?"

"For the Cathedral? No. I'd die for the guys in my squad, maybe. I never really thought about it. I think..."

"Yes?"

"I think that I might die for you."

She smiled at him. It was the sweetest and saddest smile he could ever recall seeing on anybody. "You're so sweet. But, Carter. I'm not worth dying over."

"How can you say something like that?" he angrily shouted at her, suddenly.

Her eyes widened in shock.

He held his head in his hands. "I'm sorry," he said in a much quieter voice. "It's just that. I think that I should be the one to decide whether or not you're worth dying over." He then laughed. "Look at us. Talking about dying for one another."

"There's something you should know, Carter. I would die for you."

"I'm going to ask you again. How long do you think you can keep this up?"

"That part of it is none of your affair. In any case, I can keep it up for as long as I need to."

"You know what you'll have to do eventually."

"I know."

"What's up Dodge?" Carter asked his roommate.

"There's something that's been nagging at me for the longest time. And now I know what it was."

"What's that?"

"Your girlfriend let you win that fight in the simulator."

"What are you talking about?"

"She had you all lined up for the kill, and then you suddenly got the drop on her. I was watching you. You got lucky."

"Maybe."

"I'm telling you, she's a pro. I don't know how, but she's an experienced Mobile Suit pilot. Not just the grunt machines like the Jinn she was on or our Zakous. I'm talking about some seriously advanced machines."

"Come on. Cindy? Where would she get training like that? They don't let women in the military."

"They don't let women in the military here in the Empire."

"Are you trying to tell me she's a Frank? Just because she's good on the simulator?"

"When do you want it to happen?"

"Not for a while yet, but when I give the word, the time will be ripe. I'll let you know when it's going down."

"What's wrong, Carter?" Cindy asked him. "You seem kind of down."

"I am a bit," he said. He then stopped and looked at her. "Cindy, I want you to tell me the truth about something."

"Sure, what is it?"

"Did you let me win on the simulator the other day?"

She looked down and away from him. "Yes. I'm sorry."

"But, why?"

"To avoid the sorts of questions that you might be asking right now."

"Can I ask you something else?"

"Sure."

"Can you…" he paused for a moment.

She looked at him. "Can I what?"

"Can you teach me how to be a better Mobile Suit pilot?"

"But, why?"

He kicked a small stone away. "Because, you beat me easily on the simulator. Because that blue Gundam easily beat me the other day." He looked at her again. "I promise that I won't ask you how you got to be that good, or why a person as good as you are is here."

"But, what about the instructors you had where you learned to be a Mobile Suit pilot?"

"They don't teach us ordinary Zakou pilots at a fancy Academy. Only the best of the best get instruction there. We learn how to pilot our Zakous and muddle through as best we can."

"But that's so horrible," she said.

"Huh?"

"You and your friends put your lives on the line every day when you get into those things. You should be given a little pointer on combat tactics."

"So, could you give me some pointers?"

She hesitated for a moment before breaking out into a shy smile. "Sure. I'll do it. There's just one thing."

"If I can do it, I'll do it."

"We'll need to drill you everyday for a while, at least, until we get to some of the advanced stuff. I know that you can't get off the base everyday. Is there any way I can get onto the base?"

"We can do that. There's just one problem."

"What's that?"

"I, uh, might have to promise that you'll teach a few of us as well."

"Hmm?"

"So, there you have it. We sneak her onto the base and she'll teach us everything she can teach us about being real Mobile Suit pilots. I have got two conditions attached. One, we don't ever tell anyone else about this. Two, we don't ask her anything about how she got to be this good." He then pointed a finger at Dodge. "And no asking any of those leading questions you love asking, either."

Dodge looked at the vehement finger for a moment before pushing it away. "Don't you get it?" he asked Carter. "What if she's a Frankish spy? Where did she learn how to be a Mobile Suit pilot? Why would a Mobile Suit pilot, possibly a Frankish Mobile Suit pilot be here?"

"I don't care. Now, are you with me? Or are you going to report me? And her?"

She drove onto the base with a forged pass. The guards had been bribed not to look too closely at her credentials. A utility room inside the Mobile Suit repair center was converted into a clandestine classroom. It took her aback to see about fifteen of the base's Mobile Suit pilots.

"Uh," she said to Carter as she saw them all. "Do all of these guys want lessons?"

"Well, to make this work, I had to get a lot of guys on board."

"I see." She quickly laid out a set of gear. "Hello, everyone. I don't know if I met everyone here so I'll just introduce myself. My name is Cynthia Brooks."

She turned on a projector. "The first thing we'll concentrate on are the controls for your Mobile Suits."

"Ah, we already know all that," said Private MacKenzie. "When are you going to show us combat tactics?"

She turned to frown at him. She then lunged across the room and slammed the pointer she had on his desk. "All right then. You're sitting in the cockpit of your Zakou right now. Point out where the fire control mechanism is."

"What? They're over, uh, that way."

"Too late. A Frankish Gundam has just ripped off the head of your Zakou. That's it, it's all over." She then stepped away and let out a big sigh. "Knowing where the controls are for your Zakou can mean all the difference between life and death. You can't just operate these things like you would a construction mech. They have to be an extention of yourself. Like the sword in the olden days. You have to become part of the machine. When you want to do something, you have to be able to just do it, rather than thinking about it. Instead of thinking, 'I need to jump ahead, turn and fire. Therefore, I need to manipulate lever A, press pedal C…' blah, blah blah." She turned to look at the men. "All right then. By the time I'm done with you in this first part, you'll be able to memorize the layout of any Mobile Suit at a glance and react just as if it was a second skin. Before too long, no one will be able to tell where you end and the Mobile Suit begins."

Carter and Dodge limped into thier bunks. "Dodge, we didn't actually do anything, right. We just sat, and talked while she lectured, right?"

"That's right," Dodge said.

"Then why do we feel more tired than if we had done a hundred laps around the base?"

"Maybe our brains just hurt."

"Just what do you think you're doing?"

"I'm just giving them a few pointers is all."

"You do realize that you're aiding and abetting the enemy and all that."

"You're a part of thier Intelligence service and I'm helping you out."

"That's different."

"I want extra patrols. That Frankish Gundam is somewhere out there. The only way we can locate it is by visual confirmation."

Carter didn't even realize it until much later.

"I was piloting my Zakou and it didn't hit me until my patrol was almost over that I never even thought about the controls more than once or twice. It all felt so natural. You're a good teacher."

"Thanks. I thought I couldn't do it any more. I guess I still have the knack."

He laughed. "I just wish I could show MacKenzie a picture of his face that first day." He then took a look at her. "Hey, why are you crying? There's no need for tears."

"I don't know," she said. "I'm just so happy."

"Most of you have progressed past the point where you need help with your controls," she said to them. "Now we'll move onto the slightly more challenging aspect of targeting."

"All right!" MacKenzie said. "Now we get to do some shooting!"

"Quiet!" she lashed out, slamming the pointer on his desk. "Did I say anything about shooting today?"

"Uh, no Ma'am," he said meekly.

"Anybody can point a weapon and shoot with it. What you all have to do is learn what you are shooting at, how you are going to shoot it and how not to get shot in return."

She shot a glance at MacKenzie. "You are in your Zakou and an enemy tank is approching you from your right. Tell me how you're going to destroy it."

"Easy. I aim with my beam weapon, lock onto it, and fire away."

"Why your beam weapon? How long will it take you to get a lock? Are you exposed to any other types of fire while you're aiming?"

"Uh…"

"And that mistake could very well cost you all the battle."

"Hey, wait a second. What mistake?"

"What's all the commotion about?" she asked Carter after one of the classes.

"One of the space combat vessals are coming in tomorrow."

"You don't sound very excited."

"Ah, come on Carter," MacKenzie said. "I mean, we're just here on garrison duty. Those guys have actually seen combat. They've gone out and engaged the enemy."

"Come on, MacKenzie," Dodge said. "Get your foot out of your mouth and come with me. You still need work on your Terrain Tolerance profile."

"Ah, come on. How important is that, really?"

"Tell you what. I can explain it to you now. Or, Cindy can explain it to you, at some length, tomorrow."

Carter laughed as he saw the dumbfounded look on MacKenzie's face as he let Dodge lead him away.

"Are you all right?" he asked, seeing the withdrawn look on her face.

"Hm? Oh, yes. Do you know what ship is coming in?"

"It's the Templar, a Mobile Suit transport ship."

"Why aren't you excited by them arriving?"

"It's just that, they tend to lord it over us garrison guys. At least, small garrisons like this one."

"Where are we going tonight?" she asked Carter.

"I don't know. Usually we hang out at the Flying Nun, but those Templar guys usually hang out there when they're in town."

"Is that so bad?"

"Well, yeah."

"And, will you let them lord it over you?"

They entered the bar and sure enough, a gang of Templars were there. One of them was challenging a member of Squad E, and winning. They both looked at the holodisplay of thier fight. The guy from squad E was getting his butt kicked as the Templar played with him.

"You know, at the stage you're at, you can beat him," she said to him.

He smiled at her. "Maybe you could beat him, but me? Nah."

"No, I'm serious. He's been trained, but he's far from the best. You're only half-trained, but you have potential. It's enough to beat him."

There was an explosion as the squad E guy was destroyed utterly and totally.

"Who's next?" the man bellowed. He was a tall, big guy that looked like he spent more time at the gym than in a Mobile Suit.

"You can do it," she said to him.

"All right, then. I'll do it." He walked over to the simulator. "My name is Johan Carter from Mobile Suit Squad B. I'll challenge you."

"Hah. Just to be fair, I'll let you take the Zakou while I pilot this weak Federation Jinn."

"You're on."

When the simulation started, he didn't bother to try and figure out how the simulator was different from his own Zakou. He simply noted the differences and went on to spot the target. He was coming in fast on an evasive pattern.

"He wants to go hand to hand," he muttered to himself. It could be assumed, then, that his opponent was an expert at hand to hand combat. He ran to the side, trying to get behind his opponent. A Beam Blast came out at him.

"Ah, ah, ah," the Templar said. "There'll be none of that today."

While he was talking and the debris obscured his Zakou, Carter fired his own Beam Weapon.

"Argh," the Templar cursed as he jumped back. The weapon did not make a direct hit, but Carter noticed that it did some damage.

While he was hit, Carter decided to gamble. He drew his own Energy Sword and charged the disoriented fighter. After a few exchanges, Carter noticed that his opponent was a very good swords man, but his Jinn was not moving very well on it damaged leg.

He jumped back using his rocket pack.

"Hey," the Templar growled. His body crouched to jump. Carter quickly exchanged his sword for his gun. He then fired. The exchange was quick, but not quick enough as the Jinn twisted away from the blast. Carter quickly zoomed in on him and saw some damage to the arm and one of the energy swords.

He dodged a blast from the enemy Jinn and pondered his next move. "The trick is to weaken his Jinn to the point where I can win a hand to hand exchange," he muttered to himself.

"Come back here and fight like a man!" the Templar bellowed at him.

"Sorry, but there's something I gotta do first," Carter said. His Zakou began running through the woods between himself and the Jinn. Both Mobile Suits could track the other on the radar, but it would obscure him from line of sight. He waited for a few moments, then he fired.

"What?" he heard from the other player.

He had to work from the assumption that his Beam Weapon did some damage. He drew his Energy Sword again and closed in on the Jinn. He noted that his blast had hit the hip of the Jinn and it seemed to have some trouble moving.

"Now I have you!" the Templar bellowed. Carter simply jumped behind the Jinn. Before its damaged legs could turn around, he stuck the Energy Sword into its back. He then jumped away as the Jinn exploded.

"Game Over," was displayed over the simulator.

As a cheer went up from the garrison Mobile Suit pilots, the Templar stomped over to Carter and hoisted him up by the lapel of his jacket.

"There's no way that a lowly garrison pilot could have beaten me. You must have cheated somehow."

"That's quite enough," they both heard.

They both turned to see Cindy standing a few inches from the combatants. She then curled up a fist and hit the Templar square in the jaw. Everyone was dumbfounded as he flew to the side, hitting his head on the simulator. He went down and didn't get back up. She then turned to glare at the seated Templars.

"Does anyone else want a piece of this?" she demanded, shaking her fist.

The seated Templars all shook thier heads. "Then get that out of here," she said, pointing at the fallen Templar.

The two of them whooped and laughed as they left the bar. "Oh, my," he said as they left the bar. "I have wanted to do that for ages."

"I told you. You have what it takes." She sighed, looking out at the stars.

"Hey, why so glum all of a sudden?"

"I was just wondering why they trained a meat-head like that but not you. Once I'm done with you, you'll be able to race rings around any other Cathedral pilot, Academy trained or not."

"And the Neo-Merovingians?"

She shook her head. "It's hard to say."

Then he grinned. "And do you teach martial arts too?"

"Hm?"

"Well, you knocked that big fellow out cold."

"Oh. No. Well, at least, nothing special."

"Really?"

"Really."

"I hear you have access to the base now."

"I can get on. Do you need anything? Mind you, I'm not really an Intelligence officer."

"I know. That has been obvious from day one."

"Hey. I came here to do a job and I think I've been doing it well."

"You have. It's just... Sorry. I guess I'm just used to dealing with other Intelligence Agents."

"It's all right. I have to admit though. Whoever would have thought that I'd be dating a Zakou pilot? What are the odds?"

"So. When are you going to admit it?"

"Never. I'm just going to block it out of my mind forever."

"Now that's childish."

"Look. I told her that I would never question her about it or that none of us would question her about it."

"I'm allowed to think. And you've been thinking the same thing. I know you are."

"I'm not going to listen to this."

"She's a trained Mobile Suit fighter. More than that, she's probably seen combat. The Cathedral doesn't let women into the regular combat positions, so that means that she must be a Neo-Merovingian. There's no reason why a person like that would be here, but there's only one Frankish Mobile Suit that we've seen. The Gundam."

"Not to rain too hard on your parade, but why would someone like that start training us on the sly?"

"Who knows? Maybe she wanted a challenge for a change."

Carter grinned. "I wouldn't mind seeing that Gundam take those Templars down a peg or two."

"There's something I wanted to show you," he said to her after the class.

"Oh? Well, all right."

He took her to the back of the repair bays. Normally, these were sealed off after hours.

"We can't do this too often," he said to her.

"Do what?"

He led her to the entry gantry for the Zakou. "After you, my lady." The two of them went into the cockpit of the Zakou. "I just thought you'd like to see the interior for a change."

"Can I sit down?"

"In the pilot seat? Sure."

She gingerly sat down in the center seat. "Oh, wow," she said, looking over the cousels.

"What's up?"

"It sometimes amazes me that a design this old is still considered viable." She experimentally toggled a few switches and pressed a few buttons.

"The power's off. If you're wondering."

"I thought as much. It's just strange. That's all." She smiled at him. "You might get into trouble for this. Thank you."

"Well, in no more trouble than I would get for smuggling you into the base. And get a bunch of guys to stay up after curfew. And dating a Gundam pilot." At that last, he stopped.

She was still smiling at him. "I guess after everything that happened it wasn't too hard to figure out." She paused, then looked at him. "Do you think, you could keep another secret?"

She took him to her shop. There was a secret panel that she opened and she took him inside. Inside was a huge hanger. Standing still in the middle was the Blue Gundam.

"My god," he said as he looked the place over. "How in Pete's name did you build all this?"

"This station is pretty old. This is actually, from what I've been able to gather, the site where the first Gundam was built. It took a lot of elbow grease to get this place functioning enough to support a single Gundam."

"Wow," he said. He looked up at the machine. "Can I?"

"Sure. Let's go up."

The pilot seat was like nothing he'd ever seen before. "Will it blow up or something if I sit in it?"

She laughed. "Don't be silly. It's just a pilot seat like any other pilot seat. Someone's butt has to be planted in it. Go on, it's not programmed to bite."

He gingerly set himself down into the seat. Instantly, the monitors, gages, dials and controls all automatically adjusted for him.

"Gah," he yelped. "How in Pete did you ever learn how to pilot a Zakou?"

"The truth is that while we're learning the basics of piloting a Mobile Suit, we use a setup that's not really different from what you use." She reached over his shoulder to flip a few switches. "The Gundam is mostly automatic. It's battle computer not only predicts the movements of its opponents, but it also learns from each encounter."

"Learns? Learns what?"

"It learns patterns to more accurately predict movements and tactics. It learns how to optimize its setting for each combat setting and scenario. It also learns about its pilot. How fast she can react, how much data she can absorb and how fast she can absorb it. The optimal temperature both she and the machine can operate at."

"What does this do?" he asked as he saw a monitor light up.

"That's my weapon readout. This Gundam was equipped mostly to just skulk around and make all of you Mobile Suit pilots nervous. Nothing really lethal or dangerous was brought along." She flipped a few more switches. "I left all my best toys home, I'm afraid."

"Aren't you afraid that I'm going to tell where you're hiding?"

She shook her head. "You would've done that a long time ago, if you were going to. Besides, I knew that I probably wouldn't come back home after this one."

"Don't talk that way. Why if you hadn't started teaching the guys in my squad all those moves, you probably could have mowed us all down without breaking a sweat. Why shouldn't you get off this planet when your mission's over with?"

She looked at her hand. "Carter, what do you know about cyber-prosthetics?"

"Well, I know that it's been outlawed here. Cathedral keeps telling everyone that its an abomination against God. I suppose that it's more common where you're from."

"Yes, it is. It's not too unusual to meet someone who has something replaced. Especially for the soldiers and pilots. Last year, I was only another Mobile Suit pilot. I was just under the cut for the Gundam Units. Then, a surprise attack on my home took place. We took dreadful losses until we were rescued." She worked at her forearm, finally removing the top layer. Carter looked in horrified fascination at the metal endoskeleton. "I was barely alive when they pulled me out of the burning heap of ash that used to be my home. Over seventy-percent of my body was replaced. And that's not all. I'm slowly dying Carter. They don't know why, or how. They don't know how to stop it. I'm all right for now, but in a year, I'll start to show the signs. All I could do, was to volunteer for this mission when I was asked." She put the false skin back. "When they ask me to, I'll probably die here."

"So, now we come down to it," Dodge said. "What are you going to do?"

"I don't know," Carter said.

"So why has she been teaching us?"

"She was really shocked at how little training we get. I think sympathy had a little bit to do with it. She might also want us to be the ones to take her down."

"That's harsh."

"Yeah. Really harsh."

"All the same," Dodge said. "Tell me what it was like."

Carter looked up at him. "What was what like?"

"What was it like to sit in the pilot seat of that Gundam? I mean, was it a disgusting, bio-organtic link-up like it was in that movie?"

"No. It was pretty cool. At first, I didn't know what was what. There's a central pilot seat. There's only half of the controls that there are on a Zakou. But there's four times as many monitors. Everything is computer controlled."

"Doesn't that prevent the pilot from reaching thier full potential?"

"It does if the computer is slow, but the Gundam computer is ultra-fast. What it does it let's the pilot concentrate only on the battle and fighting. They don't have to worry about all the little details." He then stopped. He had been rattling on, getting excited about the Gundam. "In exchange, they're given a whole new set of problems to worry about."

"As the Blue Gundam has been quiet lately, the alert has gone down. However, Intelligence tells us that it has not left the area, so the alert can go back up at any time. In the meantime, the Templars can't remain here indefinately. While they are here, we will be holding a series of wargames." He activated a view screen. "There will always be a security detachment on hand to protect the players involved. Each squad will square off against a Templar unit. Each unit will recieve a rating depending on how well they do."

As Carter and some of his squad members walked into town, they spied Cindy. "Hey," MacKenzie called out to her.

"Carter. Hello, everyone," she said to them.

"Did you hear about the wargames?" MacKenzie asked her. "Are you going to trash the party?"

She gave a stern look at Carter. "I show you my little secret and you immediately blab it to your friends?"

"What? I never, I mean…"

She then laughed. "I figured that some of you would have figured things out by now. So, are you guys planning to put paid to those Templars?"

"Yeah," Dodge said. "We planned it out some. We were watching them practice on the base simulators. They were almost as pathetic as we were before."

She shook her head. "I still don't get how meat-heads like that received special training while you guys, who have more talent, are left out in the cold."

"You mean, you really don't get it?" Dodge asked her. He took a quick look around. "Let's talk about this somewhere else."

"My shop is secured," she said. "Let's go there."

"Wow, this is so cool!" MacKenzie said, crawling over the Gundam.

"So, what is the deal?" she asked Dodge and Carter.

"The prerequisite for joining your so-callled elite units is not your ability as a Mobile Suit pilot but your loyalty to the Empire and the precepts of the Cathedral," Dodge said. "Lower units, like ourselves, merely have to have never had any major acts of disloyalty. The Templars are a little different. Anyone can be accepted into thier ranks if they prove that they are loyal by way of a recommendation from a certain level of Cleric from the Cathedral. Those who fail the tests, become Templars. Those who succeed get trained at the Academy."

"I see. There are some stories that the Academy also breeds for warriors. A whole eugenics program. Is that true?"

"I haven't seen it or anything on it myself. But I've heard those stories myself. It was justified in that a similar program was instituted in Frankish territory."

"There is, but its not quite the same. Half the population wants to become Gundam Pilots. We have a hard time producing enough Mobile Suits, much less Gundams, for every one that signs up."

"So, all the pretty girls who don't get into the program try and date Gundam pilots?" Carter asked her.

"I'll admit, when I was in high school, I had a crush on a few of the local Gundam Pilots."

"Oh, wow, this is so cool. Can I give it a test ride?" they all heard MacKenzie call out.

Cindy laughed. "Tell you what," she said, getting her Virtual Reality gear. "I'll upload the Gundam simulation for you."

"All right," MacKenzie said, sitting in the virtual cockpit of the Gundam. "What do I do first?"

"This is the training simulator. It's mostly to get you used to piloting a Gundam. Touch any of the controls."

"All right," he said. He touched an innocent looking lever. "This little window popped up saying, 'Left arm, elbow.'"

"That's one of the gross control for the limbs. Most of the movement is done automatically, depending on what you're doing. Some of the monitors also double as control panels. Give them a try."

"You know," Carter said as they all watched MacKenzie traverse the training program. "Once he comes out of that simulator, he's not going to want to go back to piloting an ordinary Mobile Suit."

"I never thought about that."

"You know," Dodge said to her. "Maybe it would do those Templars good if you were to show up and shake them up a bit."

"That sounds like fun, but my contact wants me to lay low for a while."

"Hey, what's going on here?" MacKenzie said. He yanked off the VR goggles.

"What's wrong?" Cindy asked him.

"I was just starting one of the battle simulations. All of a sudden, the monitors start flooding all this information to me. I couldn't keep up. It was just too much." He looked a bit worn out.

"And that," she said to him. "Is why only a handful of people get to be Gundam pilots."

"Was the information really coming in all that fast?" Dodge asked him.

"Yeah. It was crazy. The moment I did anything, all the information changed. I couldn't depend on anything to stay the same."

"Is there any special training you can go through to help you out?" Carter asked her.

"There is, but basically, anyone who does what MacKenzie just did gets washed out of the program."

"What, you mean I just washed out?" he shouted out.

"Relax," she said to him. "That's for official Gundam training. You can use the simulator anytime you want."

"Thanks, Cindy."

"Cindy," Carter said. "You said you didn't make the cut for Gundam pilot. Why didn't you?"

"My data absorption rate and reaction time was a bit slower than required to be a Gundam pilot. I've developed it since then, but it was considered too slow."

"Do you mean to tell us that you're not considered special when it comes to being a Gundam pilot?" Dodge asked her.

"That's exactly right," she said, looking him straight in the eye.

"Hey," MacKenzie said. "What does that mean?"

"This is why the Empire can't successfully launch a ground war on any of the colonies or bases of the Neo-Merovingians. All it would take is one Gundam to tilt the balance against any Cathedral ground forces. It would take an Academy trained force with the latest Mobile Suits to even stand a chance against one. It would never happen, since all they do is defend Earth."

"Another consideration," she said, "is that we have more Gundam and Gundam pilots than there are Academy trained Mobile Suit pilots and advanced Mobile Suits. As things stand, there is the standoff."

"So, why don't you launch an all out assult with the Gundams?" MacKenzie asked.

"Because, though a force like the one here couldn't defeat my Gundam, if all of you were to attack together, I would sustain at least some damage. Also, I would require a place to refuel and rearm my Gundam."

"What about this place?"

She shook her head. "It takes a while for supplies to reach me from home. Most of the Gundam weapons I have are energy based ones that don't require rearming. All in all, it couldn't be done."

"That's why the Zakou is still in use for us lower warriors," Carter said. "The Cathedral can use the old manufacturing sites instead of spending the time and money to build new ones. It's cheaper that way."

"Are you ready, MacKenzie?" Carter asked him.

"I don't know. I was just getting used to piloting that Gundam."

"You were starting to get the hang of it. What was it like?"

"It was so intense. It's like, even though it was just information on the monitor screens, it felt like I was directly jacked into them. Cindy taught me this trick where I have to look at them all at once, then zoom in when one of them radically changes. It was so intense. Like having your brain squeezed while you're reciting poetry in the middle of a gymnastics lesson."

"Sounds hard. What did she say?"

"She said I was good, but I would never make the cut. It's just that, I know I'll never pilot a real one. But, it's just that..."

"I know, kid. Come on. We have to go and kick the butts of those Templars."

"Oh, yeah." While the excercise was officially for training the squad for fighting against a superior foe, i.e. the Gundam, everyone knew that it was actually so that the Templars could show them thier place by squashing them.

They assembled in the briefing room. "The excercise goes as follows. Your squad will be pitted against one squad of the Templars. You will be using live ammunition, so try not to go all out in killing them. There will also be a squad on standby in case that Gundam shows up. The squad that lasts the longest against the Templars will get a two-day pass, with pay. That's average time, not total by the way. The pilot that lasts longest against the Templars will get a three-day pass."

Dodge's hand went up. "Yes, Corporal Dodge?"

"Well, sir. Let's say, by some freak chance one of the squads actually defeat the Templars. What would that squad get?"

"What? That would be a feather in our cap, Corporal Dodge, but lets face facts. That is an elite Mobile Suit squad here. In fact, we think that that Gundam won't dare show its face while they're here. If it happens, we'll come up with something suitable."

They had a hard time keeping for bursting out with laughter as they left the briefing room to go prep thier Zakous. "Do you think we should tell him that Cindy could wipe them all out before blinking?" Carter asked.

"Nah," MacKenzie said. "It probably let's them sleep at night, or something."

"All right, ladies," the Templar squad leader said. Carter groaned internally when he saw that it was the same one he beat at the simulator. "Try not to get wiped out so quick today." He then turned to Carter. "Except maybe for you."

"What are you doing here?"

"It's nice to see you too," she said to him. "I'm here to see how my boys are doing."

"You do realize that they're using live ammunition."

"This ridge is out of the combat zone and it's a wargame."

"So, how are they doing?"

"Well, the Templars tried to rush them all at once. They don't seem to have much in the way of squad combat tactics."

"And how about your boys?"

"I managed to teach them some of the rudiments before today. They allowed the Templars to rush into a hole they created in thier formation and set them up in a crossfire. Right now, they're doing a collapsed defense variation."

"Variation?"

"Yes, they retreat, then stop and nail the lead Mobile Suit, then retreat again."

"How's it coming, Carter?" Dodge yelled out over the comm.

"I'm almost there. Move back. This one is being extra persistant."

"I don't care if you are Cathedral pilots, I'm going to rip off your heads and spit down your necks!" they both heard.

"Oh, boy," Carter murmured.

"Now that's interesting," she muttered.

"What is?"

"They're pulling this trick where they fight them one on one, or mostly so. Then just as soon as looks like the Templar is getting used to the way the other guy fights, they switch partners, like in a dance."

"What happens when the Templars counter?"

"That's where the mostly so comes in. The surplus squad members step in at that point. I bet that Dodge is coming up with this stuff."

"Why not your boy, Carter?"

"Carter is sweet and a great Mobile Suit pilot, but he's not a tactician."

"Oh."

"You cannot defeat us! We are the almighty Templers," they all heard on thier radios.

"Ah, man," MacKenzie said. "Can't this guy just take a hint?"

The lone Mobile Suit was shooting pot shots that the squad members easily avoided.

"I think he's crazy," Dodge said. "Let's wait until he exhausts his Beam Cannon then subdue him."

"Careful," Carter said. "He's good at hand to hand combat tactics. It's his strong point."

"We'll just have to make do."

"All right, rush him!"

"For your conduct," the Base Commander said to all of them, "you are hereby confined to your quarters until a suitable punishment is worked out. That will be all."

"Ah, man," MacKenzie moaned. "We kick thier butts and what do we get? Punishment detail."

"What did you expect?" Dodge asked him. "We put egg on the face of an elite unit."

"I know," Carter said. "But I agree with MacKenzie. It still bites."

"Hmm. But still…" Dodge said, grinning. "It was worth it to kick thier collective asses."

"Are you sure you want to do this?" she asked Carter. "It might be a little overwhelming."

"Well, it can't hurt me, right? I mean, the worst thing that'll happen is that I'll yank off the VR goggles and flunk."

"Actually, the worst is that you'll go into an epileptic fit. I've heard a few rumors that a very few go into a coma."

"Great. Well, here's hoping."

"How'd I do?" he asked her.

She gaped at the readout from the tests. "This is incredible. Your information absorption rate is one of the highest I've ever personally seen."

"Really? Do you think I'd get to become a Gundam pilot if I was a Frank?"

"There would be commanders hip deep trying to get you to sign up."

They sat on the roof of her shop, looking out at the busy street below. "Cindy," he said to her.

"Yes, Carter?" he twined his hand into her's.

"Take me to your homeland."

She gasped and looked at him. "But why? Is it because you now want to become a Gundam pilot that badly?"

"I don't care about being a Gundam pilot, although I'll admit that that's a great perk. I don't care about the Empire or Neo-merovingians. All I want, is to spend as much time with you as I possibly can. I don't want to go into combat against you. I don't want to fight you."

She looked down at one of her hands. "Don't think that way. If it ever happens, I would rather be killed by you then to die slowly."

"Don't say that!" he yelled at he.r.

She looked at him in shock.

"You're more prescious to me than anything else. I don't care if you're a Frank, a Gundam pilot and a cyborg. You deserve to go back home and make them find a cure for you."

"Carter," she said to him. Tears started falling from one of her eyes. The real one.

"How could this happen?" the Templar commander muttered. "A bunch of ignorant garrison pilots outdo my own Templars?"

"It's time," the man said to her.

"I'm ready. What do you want me to do?"

"I need you to make a sudden, noisy appearance and storm the base. The pilots will be ready for you when you arrive. You'll make good your escape but they'll track you down to your secred hideout. It's a small cave in the mountains where you had been prepping for an invason force." She looked at the map with the cave indicated. "Once they spring the trap, you'll fight back."

"Do you think Carter will be in the assult?"

"I don't know. It depends."

"We just recieved word from Cathedral Central Intelligence," the base Commander said. "The Blue Gundam has received orders to storm this base and prepare this station for an invasion by Neo-Merovingian forces. We do not know from where the attack is coming, or when. Therefore, this is what we are going to do. The base will be sealed off. No personelle will be allowed to enter or leave the base without the permission of either myself or the Security Officer. At least one squad will be fully prepped for combat at all time, one squad will be on stand by. That will be all."

"So, what does this mean, Dodge?" MacKenzie asked him.

"It means that Cindy's contact in the CCI has given her her marching orders," Carter said.

"What do you want to do?" Dodge asked him.

"I don't know," Carter said. "But we don't have much time before Cindy gets here."

"But she can't get in. The base is… oh," MacKenzie sheepishly broke off as some of the guys gave him a grim smile.

There was a knock at the door. Lieutenant Marx opened it. "I'm here to officially tell you that you are off suspension. You'll be placed on the duty roster. You'll be the stand-by crew for tonight."

She stood on the hill and looked down at the base. She at once felt exposed on the hillside and was secure in the knowledge that it would take an incredible stroke of luck for someone to spot her. The Gundam Striker was beside her beneath its camoflage.

"You'll do the deed tonight," he had told her.

"Tell me, will they know exactly when I'll be coming?" she had asked him.

"They'll know what date. I'll warn them a few hours before you're set to arrive."

"I see," she said.

"I know you're worried about it, so I tried to find out who'll be on that shift."

"But you couldn't," she said. "Because once you give the word, they'll change the order. That's all right. They don't need me to coddle them anymore."

She got into the cockpit and started up the power. She watched as the monitors lit up and started giving her field reports. It detected the multiple Mobile Suit signatures in the base. She could tell from here where they were in the base. She plotted out probable points of attack and probable responses. She did all the meaningless little things she knew she could do to kill time.

"Gentlemen, this is it," the base Commander said. "The Gundam is making its move some time tonight. Every unit is to be put either on active alert or stand by."

It was time. She activated the stealth cloak that allowed her Gundam to go from hard-to-detect to impossible-to-find. She zipped up on foot. Though the base was, to the naked eye, fairly quiet, her sensors could detect the active Zakous waiting to ambush her.

"What do you think will happen next?" MacKenzie asked Dodge.

"She'll likely want to create a lot of havok here on the base. She needs to plan this part out carefully, because the brass has seen her in action and has an idea of what she can do."

The Mobile Suit was draped over with a camoflage net. The net was not very strong and was designed to be ripped away the moment the Zakou made any kind of movement. The pilot watched carefully for the Gundam.

Cindy moved in on a carefully planned vector. She wanted it to look like she was trying to sneak onto the base for a surprise attack. The sentry would shoot at her and sound the alarm. She would, in turn, attack the sentry and fire upon the responding Mobile Suits.

She ran up to the outer wall of the base.

She then paused for a moment. She was standing right next to the sentry. She stood there incredulously as he seemed intent on steadfastly ignoring her. She waited for a few moments. Finally, after holding her head in her hands for a few moments, she gave the Zakou a hearty shove.

"Ahhh! It's the Gundam. The Gundam is here!" came the panicked shout over the airwaves.

She firmly stomped on the great eye, effectively blinding and silencing the pilot. She sighed for a brief moment before going on with the plan.

Carter watched as she deftly leaped into the center of the base. This would ordinarily be a suicide manuver, as it would provide the enemy with a prime target. This time, it proved to be the opposite as she caught the Templars flatfooted as they tried to exit by the front gate. Before they could react, she had whipped out her Energy Saber and had viciously slashed into the rear of one of the Zakous. The hapless Mobile Suit exploded, taking one of its fellows with it.

The Mobile Suit at the head of the pack turned around at this assult. "Move out of the way," she heard over the comm lines. "The Gundam is mine." It then began shoving Zakous out of the way.

Cindy patiently waited for him to arrive, her attention also on the artillary the base had. The Mobile Suits were crowded in the central corridor that connected the inner wall of the base to the outer wall. Two of the Zakous were jammed together in this defile. "Out of my way!" he shouted. He then drew his Energy Saber and slashed into one of the hapless Mobile Suits.

She watched as the Mobile Suit exploded. She looked down at her hand, the cybernetic one.

She reached down to the communications consol. "Hey, meat-head," she said to him.

"Hm? Who are you?" he asked her.

She gritted her teeth. "I'm the Gundam pilot, you thundering moron. You want me? Come get me." She activated her jump jets and flew over the compound wall.

"Wah, ha, ha. The Gundam pilot is a little girl? What were we worried about all this time?"

She drew her two Energy Swords. The Templar ran out of the base and drew an Energy Sword and his shield. He charged her, his sword moving in a wide arc. Her own blades were the merest flicker of movement as she parried.

"So tell me," she said to him. "When are your little friends going to interfere in our dance?"

"Urgh. They wouldn't dare to interfere. They know that I'm more than a match for any filthy Gundam pilot."

"Are you now?" Her face took on a grimmer cast as she pressed foward her attack. Her Energy Sword flickered in and out, probing his faltering defense. She then jumped back suddenly.

"You're running away now," he panted out. "You know you can't win."

"Don't be silly. I just need to do this." She deactivated the two swords, then she joined them into a single unit. The blade that came out of this fusion was longer and thicker than the blades before. "Hiya!" she yelled out, jumping straight up. She activated the thrusters on the downward sweep.

He held up the shield to try and ward off the blow. The blade went through shield, arm and Mobile Suit. She jumped back after making the cut. The Zakou exploded. She stepped through the burning wreckage.

With the flames behind her, she looked at the assembled Templar fighters. "Who wants to be next?"

"Attention all Mobile Suit pilots, attention all Mobile Suit pilots. Get into your Mobile Suits. I repeat, get into your Mobile Suits."

"I guess this is it," Dodge said.

"I don't want to fight Cindy," MacKenzie said.

"We'll have to think of something," Carter said. "But we aren't going to accomplish anything by getting thrown into the stockade. Let's go."

She moved towards the remaining Templars with all the speed she could muster. The older Gundam moved through the ranks easily. As she was done with the last Templar, her sensors detected the rest of the Zakous being mobilized. She moved out.

"Where is she going?" Carter asked. "She knows that she could take all of us down."

"She must be following a plan to make her defeat look realistic," Dodge said.

"We can't let her just throw her life away," Carter bit out. "Come on. Let's catch up to her."

"She's not moving very fast," Dodge said. "She must want some of the base's Mobile Suits to chase her."

"Come on," MacKenzie said. "Let's leave these slowpokes behind and help her out."

They adjusted thier Zakous for the chase. Maximizing mobility, they began to catch up to the fleeing Gundam.

"Hey, Cindy," Carter said.

"Hey yourself," she said, taking a shot at him. He could see the shot coming a mile off and dodged it. "You might not want to get too close when the finale happens."

He got out his own Beam Cannon and took a pot shot. They both missed. He frowned. "What's the plan, Cindy? We want to help you."

"Yeah," MacKenzie said, taking pot shots with his own weapon. "Let us help you get you out of this one alive."

"We can do it," Dodge said.

Doubt crept into her face. "I don't know…"

"Come on," Carter said to her. "I want to see your home."

"Yeah, I want to pilot a Gundam!" MacKenzie said.

"I'll go with you," Dodge said.

Tears welled up in her eyes. "You guys. All right, the plan was that I would head for that cave over there," a map appeared on thier monitors with a red dot on it. "Once there, I would engage some of the base's Mobile Suits. Once I had defeated them, the Templar ship, now in orbit, will attack."

"You mean an orbital bombardment?" Dodge shouted out. "Are they crazy?"

"It was the only realistic way that could be devised to take me out," she said.

"What is the status of my Templars?" the Templar Commander asked the Operations Officer.

"All Templars have been defeated. The enemy Gundam is now fleeing the base with some of the garrison Mobile Suits in pursuit."

"What? All of them defeated? Then why is it fleeing these garrison soldiers?"

"Unknown, sir. That is what is happening, though."

"Never mind, then. When you get a clear target, fire the Orbital Lasers."

"Sir, the garrison Mobile Suits are making it difficult to lock onto the target."

"Ignore them as factors. When word of this gets out, I'll be stripped of my rank. To get some satisfaction, no filthy Gundam or garrison Mobile Suits are going to stand in my way."

"Yes, sir."

"Uh, oh," she said to them. They had managed to keep up thier game of tag, neither side seriously hurting the other.

"What's up?" Carter asked her.

"The Templar is trying to lock into my location. I have my stealth off, so it'll take them a few minutes. I think they're having problems with my passive stealth measures. They also don't seem to be waiting for you guys to vacate the area."

"Come on, Dodge. What's the plan?" Carter said.

"Well, I suppose all we have to do is let them vaporize our Zakous, the Gundam and then get a ride to the Frankish Territories."

"Do you think it'll be that simple?"

"I don't see why not."

"Sir, we have a lock."

"Very good. Fire!"

The ship orbiting the space colony looked tiny compared with its bulk. The lance of light shot out, looking so bright against the backdrop of space. It touched the ground briefly before the explosion rocked the entire place.

Carter and the others looked at the conflaguration. "Well, I guess that's over with," Carter said. "Now we just have the problem of getting off of this rock without getting caught."

"Don't be silly," Cindy said. "I have a contingency plan ready to go."

"But, I thought that this was supposed to be a suicide mission for you," Dodge said.

"Well, it was, assuming that everything went off without a hitch. But, in the event that my cover was blown, I was supposed to evacuate so that I couldn't be interrogated or have my things looked over."

Some time later…

"What are you doing contacting me?" he asked her. "I thought that this was it."

"Well, there's been a slight change of plans. Me and my friends have to get out of here before anyone's the wiser."

"You made it out with all of them too?"

"Yup. Mmm. Does anyone suspect what happened?"

"No. Everyone thinks that you and your friends got vaporized. The Captain of the Templar is currently facing a military Tribunal."

"What will happen to him?"

"He'll likely get a reprimand on his record. That's about all."

"All he gets for needlessly sacrificing a Mobile Suit squad is a reprimand?"

"Actually, he's getting the reprimand for losing his Templar unit."

"Ohh. I should have blasted him when I had the chance."

"Its not all bad. Thanks to him, you and your friends can make it off the colony." He handed her a small sachel. "These are orders for you from Cathedral Central Intelligence. They're orders for you and your crew to set up a long term sleeper cell in Frankish territory. I assume when you get back, you can handle things from there?"

"I should be able to. Thank you, for everything."

"Just save a place for me. I may want to retire on that side as well, someday."

"See you," she said, kissing him on the cheek.

_From the Diary of Johan Carter:_

It was remarkably easy to get into Frankish territory after that. We were stopped at the border, Cindy went away for a few hours then we were allowed across. We were accepted into the Frankish military with remarkably little fanfare.

MacKenzie tested out too low to be a Gundam pilot, but he was perfectly suited as a fighter pilot. Dodge also didn't make the cut, but he was picked as part of a tactics team. I did test out and went to one of the Gundam training centers. Cindy went back to being an instructor.

She's still expected to start having problems before the year is out, but medical advances are being made all the time.

So now I'm going to be a Gundam pilot.

It takes some getting used to, but it feels the way home is supposed to feel.


End file.
